Best GPS software for Mac or PC?
August 19, 2008 5:35 AM Subscribe
I have a Macbook Pro with OS X and Vista on it. I also have the opportunity to borrow a USB GPS device. The plan is to drive around Estonia and Latvia, so decent maps of Eastern Europe are a must. What GPS software should I use?
I lived in Latvia last year and though I didn't have a car, I knew plenty of people with GPS in their cars. Google Maps for the region also does directions, which was a nice surprise when I got there.
However, as I'm sure you've found out, the region isn't as well connected to the online map world as you might be used to, so you may just need to buy a paper atlas of the Baltic states there. If you're going to start in Riga, you NEED to hit up the Jana Seta travel bookstore/map shop on Elizabetes iela, between Marija and Barona iela - about two blocks from the train station. The company is the biggest map publisher in the Baltics, and makes a bunch of electronic maps. You can see their selection here, which includes a 35 LVL/$70. Their online shop is here (karsu is maps, veikals is shop), with directions to the address. Here's their contact page: perhaps you can order and have them deliver to your hotel the first night?
All that said, it's a really, really small region (Tallinn to Vilnius is 8 hours on a bus, less in your own car), the maps in the national atlas (I only bought the one for Latvia) are really detailed (down to individual houses/block numbers!) and often, there's just the one road to get somewhere. Route numbers, rivers, street names, and destinations from big cities to tiny towns are signed up to basic European standards. The Baltic phrasebook from Lonely Planet has sections on asking for directions in Estonian, Lithuanian, and Latvian which is helpful.
And if you can: don't miss Vilnius! It's a quick 3-4 hours south of Riga, and Lithuania has the only long-distance motorways in the Baltics. It's totally gorgeous and doesn't get the attention it deserves, and it's the European Capital of Culture for 2009, so there's a lot going on.
Happy travels! It's a very cool region of the world and the Baltic coast is amazingly beautiful.
posted by mdonley at 11:01 AM on August 19, 2008
However, as I'm sure you've found out, the region isn't as well connected to the online map world as you might be used to, so you may just need to buy a paper atlas of the Baltic states there. If you're going to start in Riga, you NEED to hit up the Jana Seta travel bookstore/map shop on Elizabetes iela, between Marija and Barona iela - about two blocks from the train station. The company is the biggest map publisher in the Baltics, and makes a bunch of electronic maps. You can see their selection here, which includes a 35 LVL/$70. Their online shop is here (karsu is maps, veikals is shop), with directions to the address. Here's their contact page: perhaps you can order and have them deliver to your hotel the first night?
All that said, it's a really, really small region (Tallinn to Vilnius is 8 hours on a bus, less in your own car), the maps in the national atlas (I only bought the one for Latvia) are really detailed (down to individual houses/block numbers!) and often, there's just the one road to get somewhere. Route numbers, rivers, street names, and destinations from big cities to tiny towns are signed up to basic European standards. The Baltic phrasebook from Lonely Planet has sections on asking for directions in Estonian, Lithuanian, and Latvian which is helpful.
And if you can: don't miss Vilnius! It's a quick 3-4 hours south of Riga, and Lithuania has the only long-distance motorways in the Baltics. It's totally gorgeous and doesn't get the attention it deserves, and it's the European Capital of Culture for 2009, so there's a lot going on.
Happy travels! It's a very cool region of the world and the Baltic coast is amazingly beautiful.
posted by mdonley at 11:01 AM on August 19, 2008
Whoops, wrong link above - here's the JS Baltija computer program you want.
posted by mdonley at 11:03 AM on August 19, 2008
posted by mdonley at 11:03 AM on August 19, 2008
Response by poster:
posted by A Kingdom for a Donkey at 12:33 PM on August 19, 2008
mdonley said:I should've probably said this in the original post but I'm actually Estonian so the online map world over here is fairly familiar to me. My knowledge of the neighboring countries is much worse than it should be, though.
However, as I'm sure you've found out, the region isn't as well connected to the online map world as you might be used to...
posted by A Kingdom for a Donkey at 12:33 PM on August 19, 2008
Best answer: I'll second the autoroute software. I used google whenever I had an internet connection, but Autoroute was pretty much on par with it. Not the best mapping software, but worked well with my gps and it has good multi-destination settings.
posted by wile e at 4:12 PM on August 20, 2008
posted by wile e at 4:12 PM on August 20, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nitsuj at 6:42 AM on August 19, 2008